July 22nd, 2013
The Dodgers entire outfield was healthy for exactly 8 innings. It was a spectacular 8 innings though. The Boys in Blue swept the Nationals in our nations capital over the weekend after a 9-2 victory on Sunday, and are now just .5 games out of first place in the NL West. Matt Kemp led the way with 3 hits and 3 RBI’s, including a solo home run in his first game off the disabled list, but then rolled his ankle on a stupid play in the 9th inning. The injury could have been avoided if he hustled running from 3rd base to home plate. This is baseball Matt….it’s not sex with Rihanna. You’re supposed to hustle going from 3rd to home.
Kemp doesn’t seem to be injured too badly, but the Dodgers shouldn’t even think about trading one of their outfielders at this point. Kemp, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, and Yasiel Puig have shown they can be great players for stretches of time when they can stay healthy. The problem is they never are, and they’ve been one the disabled list as frequently as Kim Kardashian is seen dating a black guy. There should be plenty of at bats for all 4 of these guys the rest of the season, and having all of them is a nice luxury for a Dodger team that can afford it. LA is on a roll, winning 20 of their last 25 games.
Meanwhile, the Angels looked good for a couple of nights before getting shut down by 1st place Oakland. Even more frustrating is the fact that they were shut down by former Angel, and now 40 year old pitcher Bartolo Colon. The Angels are 10 games back with the trade deadline approaching in 10 days. That would appear to make them sellers, but then again, what exactly do they have to sell? Any takers for Josh Hamilton and his $125 million contract? Probably not. Maybe the Halos can trade their general manager Jerry Dipoto for a general manager that can actually acquire some pitching.
As for Bartolo Colon, how has nobody suspect this guy of using HGH or some other performance enhancing drugs? The guy is 40 years old, in his 15th year in the league, and he’s on pace for career highs in wins and ERA, and could very well win the AL Cy Young. I’ve always believed that the heavy set Colon would dominate anyone in a pie eating contest. Clearly, he’s now baking the HGH into his pies.
Lakers owner Jim Buss was interviewed on NBA TV last week and explained that when signing free agents this year, “we picked players that fit and can run Mike D’Antoni’s system.” That tells me that either the Lakers are trying to tank, or that Buss learned nothing from watching last season. The Lakers were 17-25 when they tried to run D’Antoni’s ridiculous system, yet finished 28-12 when they slowed things down and controlled the tempo. I often wonder what Jim Buss is like when he goes to the race track to bet on horses. Does he always bet on the slowest horse to win? I hear he wasn’t very good at it.
The Kings named former player Rob Blake assistant general manager last week to replace the departing Ron Hextall. Blake may be qualified for the job, but on multiple occasions in his career, he has shown a complete disloyalty to the franchise that drafted him in the early 90’s. This included stripping himself of his captaincy in 2001 while in the midst of a contract dispute, which is like spitting in the face of your teammates and fans. I’m not sure why the Kings are showing so much loyalty to the man that’s turned his back on the franchise so many times. That’s like a battered house wife going back to the dude that keeps beating her. I’m curious to see if Blake gets booed when introduced on opening night in October.
Speaking of the NHL, the new divisional realignment is unbelievable. They actually named one of the divisions in the Eastern Conference the “Metro Division”. So if your team plays in this division, does that mean you have to manscape before every game? Leave it to commissioner Gary Bettman to screw up something like this. I also like how nearly all the teams in the Atlantic Division play in the North East. Maybe Bettman could come up with something a little more sensible like uh…..”The Northeastern Division”.
The Dallas Cowboys opened training camp in Oxnard last week, and owner Jerry Jones said that the NFL “is closer than ever” to returning to Los Angeles. I still find this very hard to believe. LA has had two separate stadium proposals that are ready for construction for quite some time now, but need a commitment from a team to start the project. Seems to me that the NFL and its owners want a team in Los Angeles a lot more than anybody that lives there. If that’s the case, then they should give LA an expansion team, and the league should finance most of it. How come nobody asked Jerry Jones when NFL Football will be returning to Dallas?
At this point, can we stop with the idea the Phil Mickelson isn’t clutch? The story was kind of funny a few years ago, but after taking the British Open yesterday, he now has 5 major victories.
So Edward Snowden is supposed to leave the Moscow Airport in a few days according to his lawyer. Has he actually been in the airport this whole time? I’ve been stuck in an airport for 10 hours before, and I nearly lost my mind. This guy has to be hating his life after spending weeks there. If anything, he probably needs asylum from all the crappy airport food he’s been eating. I’m sure he’s tried just about everything in the food court as this point.
Finally, memo to those of you protesting the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial: take your protests away from the 10 freeway entrance! Some people actually need to get to work and make a living while you guys piss and moan.